GPG errors

Package authentication

Message: Packages could not be authenticated

Explanation: Many repositories, including all of Debian's repositories & Warren's MEPIS 8.0 & 8.5 repositories, use a GPG key to verify that you are connected to the real repository instead of having been rerouted by a highjacked DNS or a man-in-the-middle attack to a fake site. This is a very slight possibility, but for production machines the extra security is worth the check. The MEPIS Community Repositories don't use such a key at this time, although new CR packages are gpg-signed by the packagers.

Solution: If this error occurs when installing packages from the Community Repository it is safely ignored. If it occurs with packages from the Debian or MEPIS repositories, do not continue the installation and report the error.

No header, problem with merge list

Message: Encountered a section with no Package: header. Problem with MergeList etc.

Problem: Files have been corrupted for some reason.

Solution: There are two main variants of this problem.

1. If the error message includes a reference to /var/lib/dpkg/status, open a terminal and type:

2. If the error message references a file in /var/lib/apt/lists, open a terminal and type:

su -c "rm -f /var/lib/apt/lists/*"
su -c "apt-get update"

3. Other files may be referenced in the error message. They can be fixed by editing the file which is producing errors manually. Open the file as root and look for 'None' entries (there should be 3). If you remove those the MergeList file should be correct again.

Broken package

Message: you have a broken package and are told to use the Broken filter to find it

Problem: you tried to install a package that had unmet dependencies

Solution: click on Status in the lower left corner of the Synaptic screen, then on the entry "Broken package." Click on the package and remove it. Reload the repos.

Cache limit exceeded

Message: Dynamic MMap ran out of room. Please increase the size of APT::Cache-Limit. Current value: 20000000.
Problem: Cache-Limit is too small to handle new package cache
Solution: Click Start Menu > System > Dolphin as su, and provide root's password. Open